


Countdown

by trenzaloures



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel
Genre: F/M, Gen, Kidnapping, Philinda - Freeform, Set after the season 1 finale, Teamwork
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 15:25:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2073297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trenzaloures/pseuds/trenzaloures
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a ghost from Melinda's past takes her away from the team, it's up to them to work together to save her. Given a countdown until her demise, the team must fight to save their friend before the clock runs out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The summary sucks and this is a really short chapter, but they should hopefully get longer as I go along. Also, I haven’t written anything since MMAW, so let’s see how this goes. I’m setting this after the Season 1 finale, so just a warning about spoilers. Hope you guys like it!

They were ambushed. 

Coulson, May and Skye had left the Playground to get supplies. Simmons wanted to stay behind to watch over Fitz, and Tripp stayed to watch over them both. Skye was getting cabin fever, so they gave in to her begging and took her with them. However, May did not give into Coulson’s begging to drive Lola instead of the SUV.

"C’mon, May! I haven’t driven her in weeks!" He pleaded.

"Coulson, we are considered a terrorist organization. A lot of important people want us in custody. We have to be inconspicuous. No Lola." He opened his mouth like he was going to beg some more, but May gave him her patented death glare. He closed his mouth, and that was the end of that. He saw Skye stifling a laugh in the corner of his eye, so he just looked dead at her and raised his eyebrow. Suddenly, those stifled laughs turned into her clearing her throat. Coulson had to stifle his own laugh. Things seemed to be going well until… 

Until it happened. 

They had been driving down an empty road for a few minutes when suddenly, a loud whirring noise could be heard overhead. A large black helicopter landed about fifty feet in front of their car, causing May to screech to a halt. Three men jumping out, shotguns aimed at the car. 

"Step out of the car, or we will shoot!" One of the men yelled. 

"What to we do?" Skye whispered. Coulson looked at May, and they seemed to have a silent conversation of headshakes and nods. Finally, May spoke. 

"We do as they say." She and Coulson carefully stepped out of the car, hands in the air. Skye did the same, standing slightly behind the older agents. 

"If you have any weapons, put them on the ground!" The same man yelled. 

"Skye." Coulson said. "When I say run, get back in the van and get the extra ICER. It’s hidden under the passenger seat. If anyone comes at you-"

"Shoot them, yeah, I know, but what about you two?"

"We can handle ourselves. Just run when I say run, okay?"

Skye sighed. “Okay.”

"I said, weapons on the ground! NOW!" The man yelled. 

"Skye?" Coulson said. He glanced over at May. She nodded. "Run!" 

Skye made a run for the car, while May pulled out her ICER and shot at the man who had been yelling. While the other two were startled, May attacked one while Coulson took the other. May knocked the gun out of his hands, then blocked all his blows that came afterwards. She gave him a good punch to the head, then climbed up on his shoulders, using her thighs to flip him to the ground. Meanwhile, Coulson took his opponent’s gun, hit him with it, then hit him over the head with the butt of the gun, knocking him out. He and May looked at each other, both panting a little. 

"Come on." He said. "Let’s go-" Before he could finish his sentence, the helicopter door opened again, but no more men came out. This time, a glowing purple object rolled towards them, beeping and stopping at Coulson’s feet. Skye recognized it, jumping out of the car and running towards them. 

"It’s a bomb!" She yelled. "Get away from it!" Coulson snapped into action, running for May, tackling her and shielding her with his body. He heard the bomb go off, but somehow the blast must have thrown him and May apart, because she was no longer underneath him. However, when he stood up, he realized he wasn’t that far from where he had grabbed May. He also noticed one other thing. 

May and the helicopter were gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, chapter 2! I'm going to try and update every week from now on until the story is over, and it will most likely happen on the weekends since school starts back for me in two weeks. And again, I'm sorry this chapter is so short. I hope you guys like it though!

May knew what the grenade was. It was one of those dendrotoxin grenades, like the ones Cybertek used on the team when they were trying to get that package. She was getting ready to make a run for it, but Coulson knocked her to the ground before she could move. She didn’t like that he was shielding her, but she had no choice. So, she curled further into him, grateful for his protection. She heard the grenade go off and squeezed her eyes shut. She waited a few seconds, then opened them. Coulson was still on top of her. He hadn’t moved at all, not a muscle, so she assumed he hadn’t gotten far enough out of range, and was now frozen just like before. She was about to shove him off of her to look for Skye, but she froze when she heard footsteps coming, muffled voices getting louder as they came closer.

“Okay, who are we supposed to take?” One of the soldiers asked. _Not Skye. Not Coulson. Please, let it be me,_ she silently begged. _I can’t lose them again._ She was surprised at it herself, but she and Skye had become close over the past few months. She would join her every morning for tai chi, and May had sort of become Skye’s new S.O. And Coulson…after New York, after Centipede, she couldn’t bear to lose him again.

“The woman. Not the younger one, the older one. Melinda May. “ May let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. _They’re not taking them._

“What about the other two?”

“We’re ordered to leave them here. The dendrotoxin will wear off eventually, and then they’ll return to their team. “ May was relieved they were letting Skye and Coulson go, but that left one problem: _What are they going to do to me? Should I act like I’m frozen too? Should I fight?_ While the soldiers were discussing their orders, May quickly tried to run through some possible outcomes, then decided what she had to do. She remained silent and still as they came closer, trying to give off the impression that she was frozen as well. However, as soon as they pulled Coulson off of her, she sprung into action, going for the soldier nearest to her.

He wasn’t expecting it, so she was able to knock him to the ground. She punched him in the face a few times, then he threw her off, and they both jumped to their feet. May was about to pounce again, but she felt a sharp, small pain in her neck. When she turned around, she saw the other man with an empty syringe in his hand. She went to attack him, but she couldn’t lift her arm without a lot of effort. She was sluggish, her mind not completely comprehending what was happening. She tried to take a step forward, but everything started spinning, and she fell to the ground. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was two pairs of boots coming towards her. Her last thought: _Coulson._

* * *

 “Ugh, I hate those things!” Skye yelled. She stood up as well, turning around to face Coulson. “Hey, where’d the helicopter go? And where’s May?” Skye looked around her, then back at Coulson, who was still frantically looking around, as if he was just being blind and she was right in front of him. Finally, he faced Skye.

“I- I don’t know.” He admitted with a sigh. Skye’s eyes widened. She and May had become close over the past few months since she became Skye’s S.O.

“M-Maybe she’s just in the car. Yeah, you covered her, so she shouldn’t have been frozen by the grenade. She probably just jumped in the car!” Skye ran for the car, and Coulson just looked at her sadly. As much as he wished it was true, he knew she wasn’t in the van. Whoever those men were, they had taken May.

Skye threw the side door to the car open, a smile on her face that immediately disappeared as soon as she looked inside. May wasn’t there. Skye slowly closed the door, resting her head against the window. She had a very strong urge to punch the car with all her might, but she remembered what May said a few months ago at the motel. _Keep calm, Skye. Save the fury for later. Save the anger for the men who took her. ‘Cause you’re gonna need it when you beat the crap out of them,_ She told herself. She didn’t know how long she had been standing there, but after a little while she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder.

“Skye?” Coulson whispered. “We’re going to get her back, okay?” Skye nodded, then slowly lifted her head. "Now, what was that grenade?" Coulson asked. Skye turned around to look at Coulson. 

"It was a, oh what did Jemma call it? A dendrotoxin grenade. When it goes off, the stuff inside freezes what or whoever it hits. That's why it seems like the helicopter just disappeared into thin air. While we were frozen, time passed. I'm not sure exactly how long the effects last, but it gave the men enough time to take May and leave." She explained. Coulson looked back at where the helicopter was, half expecting to see May walking down the road towards them. When she wasn't there, he stiffened a little, clenching his fists.  

“Let’s get back to The Bus.” Coulson said. As they drove away, Coulson couldn’t help but look in his rearview mirror.

_I will find you, Melinda._

* * *

After the silent ride back to The Bus, they found Jemma and Trip anxiously waiting for them in the cargo bay. As soon as Skye got out of the car, Jemma practically tackled her, wrapping her in a large hug. 

"Skye, where on earth have you been?!" Skye pulled out of the hug to look at Jemma. Ever since Ward sent them to the bottom of the ocean, Jemma believed it was her personal duty to watch over Fitz all the time. She didn't get much sleep, and they couldn't always drag her ay, so she was very pale with bags under her eyes. Her eyes were the worst though, because when you looked into them, they seemed sad, empty, like a large part of her was missing. "I was about to send Trip after you two if you didn't show up in the next ten minutes!" Jemma said.

"We're fine. We were going to get supplies, but..." She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Coulson stepped forward. 

"Some men attacked us. They used a dendrotoxin grenade to freeze me and Skye, but it didn't freeze May since I covered her. We don't know exactly what happened, but we do know that they-whoever they are-took May. And we're going to get her back." Coulson looked around at what was left of his team. Even though they looked sad and tired, they all had their heads up, determined looks on their faces. He was so proud of them. They had been to hell and back, and they were still standing tall. 

Coulson was about to start talking again, but instead of his voice coming out of his mouth, there was a loud beeping, like an alarm. Looking alarmed, the group ran up the stairs towards the sound of the noise. It was coming from the command center, and on the large screen the same words were flashing.  **Incoming message! Incoming message!** Skye went to the controls, checking to see if she could track where the message was coming from. 

"Skye, can you track the sender's location?" Coulson asked. 

"The message is encrypted. We can watch it, but we can't reply or track the location, so it's obviously not a friend. I should be able to crack it, but it will take a while. It also seems to be a video message. Do you want me to play it?"

Coulson nodded, and Skye hit play. 

There was an empty room. No windows. No visible doors. Well, it wasn't empty. In the middle of the room was May. She was unconscious, tied to a chair and had a gag in her mouth. 

"Melinda." Coulson whispered. 

**"Hello, Agent Coulson and his team. Oh, my mistake. _Director_ Coulson."** A voice said. It was a man's voice, but they couldn't see his face. **"Now, as you can see, I have your precious Melinda May. And I intend on, how do I put this, putting her to sleep."**

"No!" Coulson and Skye yelled. 

**"However, if you would like your dear friend to remain among the living, then I have a deal for you, a trade I'd like to make."** The man's voice changed from eerily pleasant to very dark and threatening.  **"Bring me the cube that Fury gave you, and whatever other information you have been using to attempt to rebuild SHIELD. You have three days, or say bye bye to Melinda May."**

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I haven't written anything in so long. I've been really busy with school and all this other stuff. So, let's see how this goes.

The screen went black. The room was still. No one moved. No one spoke. Skye didn't think anyone was even breathing anymore. After seeing that video, she could feel the tears at the corner of her eyes, a sob rising in her throat that she was determined to push down. But before she could break down, Coulson broke the trance the room seemed frozen in. 

"Skye, you said you could track where that message came from?" He wouldn't look away from the screen. 

Skye wiped the tears from her eyes. "Yeah, I think I can. It's pretty heavily encrypted, but I should be able to break it."

"How long?"

She took another look at the encryption placed on the message. "A few hours, maybe longer. It's pretty tricky, so I might not be able to get this guy's location until tomorrow morning."

For the first time since the video ended, Coulson looked at her. "That's not fast enough. We have to know his location today so we can get there and get May out, got it?" 

Skye had never seen a look like this in a man's eyes before. He looked like he was drowning inside himself, no one to grab onto. So, she said "I'll try my best." and got to work. 

Coulson then turned to Simmons. "What those men threw at us was a dendrotoxin grenade, like the ones they used on us on that train with Cybertek. First, how long do the effects of those last, and second, do you think it was Cybertek again?"

"Well, sir, as most of us were the ones affected by the grenades the first time, we don't exactly know how long they lasted, but I don't think it was longer than a few hours. However, you left around ten a.m. this morning, and how long would you say you had been driving before you were attacked?"

"About half an hour, maybe a bit more."

"So, the attack would have happened around ten-thirty, and it's now about two in the afternoon, so you probably would have been heading back at around one-thirty, which means you were probably frozen for about three hours, give or take." 

"Okay, so they haven't had May for too long. What about the Cybertek part? Do you think they could be behind this?"

"I honestly don't know sir. The kidnapping thing does sound like them, but you have a lot of enemies, and now that HYDRA has revealed themselves, a lot of them are after that data cube. There's a lot of possibilities." 

Coulson sighed. She was right. He had too many enemies to narrow it down, and Melinda did too. There was nothing to do now but wait until Skye figured out that person's location. Coulson gave Simmons a pat on the shoulder, which was as much of a thanks as he could muster up at this point. Then, he wandered up to his office, locking the door behind him. He just needed some time alone. 

Loosening his tie, he sat down at the large desk near the back of the room. Immediately, he noticed the only picture he had on his desk. It was from an old  mission, one of his first with Melinda. It was just a simple undercover mission (which she hated even back then). They had to go to Hawaii, pretending to be a newlywed couple on their honeymoon while keeping an eye on someone they believed to be in possession of dangerous information. The picture was of them on the beach, Coulson trying to pick May up and throw her in the water, her not really fighting against him. They were both smiling, lost in the moment, not even thinking about their mission. They didn't realize someone was photographing them until a tourist came up to them, handing them the photo that was now framed in front of him. 

" _William put me down!" Melinda yelled. William was his code name for this mission. Hers was Anthea. Phil ran with Melinda in his arms all the way to the water, her playfully punching him the whole time. He knew she could take him down if she wanted to, but she didn't._

_"No way, honey. We're at the beach! It's not worth it unless you," Phil swung her towards the water, not letting go, but acting like he was going to._

_"Get," He swung her again._

_"Will, no!" She laughed._

_"WET!!!!" This time he let go, and Melinda hit the water with a splash. She jumped up quickly, the dress covering her swimsuit sticking to her body._

_"You little..." She started to run towards him, but an incoming wave knocked her over when she wasn't paying attention. Phil laughed at her, not paying attention to the arm reaching for his ankle. Soon, he was on the ground too, getting hit by another small wave._

_"Thea!" Phil gasped. Once they dragged themselves away from the water, they just lay there for a moment, panting a bit, grinning like complete idiots. Eventually, they got up, trying (and failing) to wipe off the wet sand stuck to their arms and legs. Starting to head back to their bags, a tourist stopped them. Melinda tensed. But all the man did was hand them a photo._

__"I'm sorry, it's just, you two looked so happy. I had to take a photo. I thought you might like to have it."_ _

No. 

He couldn't think about it. 

Coulson picked up the picture, then set it down again, this time on it's front. He didn't want to be reminded of how things were. Of how happy she used to be. How happy they both used to be. 

Right now, all he was allowed to think about was how to get Melinda out of there. Because he knew if he took one step into that ocean of memories, he would drown. 

* * *

 Downstairs, Jemma and Trip didn't really know what to do. There was no job for them at the moment. There was only waiting. Jemma asked Skye if she wanted them to stay with her, but she wanted to be alone, so they went down to the lab on the Bus. The lab at the Playground was full of scientists they didn't know, and Jemma just wanted to be somewhere familiar. Somewhere from before all of this insanity happened. She knew how Skye felt, though. Agent May had become almost like a maternal figure to the younger members of the team. Sure, she was pretty cold and reserved most of the time, but she was always looking out for them. 

She didn't want to think about what May could possibly be going through right now. For all they knew, she could be in HYDRA's clutches, which was a very, very not good place to be. She felt so useless, her hands just limp at her sides. She had to do something, and watching Fitz for hours on end wouldn't help anything. Since the lab was such a mess, she started to clean. 

She cleaned everything. She picked up trash and threw it away. She wiped down counter tops, organized drawers, and dusted everything, even the large screen at the back of the lab. For a while, she forgot Trip was even there. Eventually, he cleared his throat, bringing her out of her head and back to reality. 

"Oh, goodness, I kind of forgot you were here. Um, would you like to help?" She held out a spray bottle to him. 

He shook his head. "No thanks, I'm good. Are you okay though? A lot's happened in not a lot of time."

For a few minutes, she didn't respond. Trip got up from where he had been sitting and walked towards her. "Jemma?" 

She didn't know what to do. She didn't understand what her brain was trying to say. Did she want to cry? To talk? Or to just stand there and pretend that everything was alright? 

Then she realized she wasn't alone in this. She had someone to lean on. So, she let herself take a step forward, and let the tears fall. All of the emotions she had been holding in - about Fitz, about HYDRA, about everything - all came out in one rush. Trip just wrapped his arms around her and let her cry.

It was a few minutes before she finally looked up, finally took a step back. "I should probably go check on Fitz." Jemma mumbled, wiping the tears from her eyes. 

"I'll go with you." Trip started towards her again. 

She almost told him she wanted time alone, but she was suddenly afraid of being left alone with her thoughts. So, she nodded, and they headed back out to the infirmary they had at the Playground, where Fitz was being kept. 

He woke up from his coma nine days after they were dropped into the ocean. Those were the nine longest days of Jemma's life. A few weeks had passed since then. Though he was awake, he still hadn't quite regained all of his basic functions, like walking and speaking. He could move his hands alright, but they were too weak to hold anything remotely heavy. His legs were too weak to hold him up for long periods of time, and he still couldn't form full sentences. He was able to communicate what he wanted most of the time, and could answer basic yes or no questions. He wasn't completely better, not even close, but they were making progress. 

Jemma couldn't help but wonder sometimes, was it her holding him back? Whenever he was around her, he couldn't seem to think. He couldn't answer questions, he couldn't even form the half sentences he'd gotten good at. But she watched him around his physical therapist and around the others. He was just fine around them.  _Am I the problem here? Am I making things worse?_

Once again, Trip snapped her out of it. 

"Should we tell him about Agent May?"

Jemma shook her head. "I don't think we should. At least not until we know a little more about the situation. He's been doing so well lately, I just-I don't want anything to distract him. If we have to go somewhere far to get May, we'll tell him. Until then," Jemma paused, looking at Fitz. Currently he was talking with his speech tutor. He appeared to be doing well. She was holding up flashcards with pictures on them, him hesitantly repeating what he saw. He saw Jemma and Trip watching through the window, smiled and waved at them. 

"Not a word."

* * *

 Skye had been working for a few hours now on the encrypted message. She hadn't gotten very far, but she was starting to understand how the sender had protected the file. Once she figured that out, the rest of it would be pretty easy. It shouldn't have been taking her this long though. She was alone since Coulson still hadn't come out of his office, and Trip and Simmons were off somewhere else.  _Probably visiting Fitz._

Skye hadn't gone to visit Fitz too much lately. Especially not when Simmons was there. It wasn't that she didn't like to, or that he made her uncomfortable or anything, but seeing them together now was just...weird. They used to be so tight, so in sync. Everyone basically thought of them as one person. Now, seeing each one without their other half, it didn't feel right. So, every once in a while she would go down and talk to him or help him with his vocabulary, but not as often as she probably should.

She knew what was really blocking her train of thought, though.  _May._ When they found out Ward was a traitor, May became her S.O. to help her continue with her training. They started doing tai chi together in the mornings, then training on and off during the day. After a few weeks of that, they had gotten a bit closer. May opened up to her more, talked more. She was less of a statue and more of a quiet friend. 

Skye couldn't help but wonder what was happening to her.  _Is she awake now? Are they going to feed her? Have they hurt her? If they hurt her-_ she slammed her fist on the table. 

Of course all of these thoughts led to worrying, and the eventual angry outburst. 

 _Calm down, Skye,_ She thought to herself.  _Breathe. Getting angry won't help anything._ Once she calmed down, she realized it was almost dinnertime. Though she wanted to keep working, she knew she needed to eat. She was frozen during lunch, and everything after that was such a blur she didn't feel hungry. 

Saving her work, she headed down to the kitchen/cafeteria the Playground had. As she walked past the entrance to Coulson's office, she realized he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast either. She went to open the door, but it was locked. Quietly, she knocked on the large door. 

"DC? It's Skye." After a few seconds, the door opened, revealing a tired Coulson. He still had that look in his eyes from earlier. The look of a drowning man. 

"I was just about to head down to get some dinner, and I thought you might wanna come." 

He just kind of looked at her for a few seconds, then finally nodded. 

"Okay, then...let's go." Coulson still hadn't moved, so Skye started to awkwardly inch down the hall. He followed her, and they headed down the dimly lit hall together. Before they got to far, Skye realized he hadn't shut his door. 

"Oh wait, your door is open. Stay here, I'll go shut it." She ran back towards his office, but right as she was about to close the door, she noticed the picture frame on his desk laying face down. Curiosity getting the best of her, she creeped towards it, carefully picking it up. 

It was a picture of a young Melinda May and Phil Coulson. Skye wasn't sure where they were, but it looked like some kind of beach. May was wearing this bright yellow sundress (wow, a color other than black) and Coulson was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a fedora.  _He really doesn't look good in hats,_ Skye thought. 

But what really hit her were their smiles. May never smiles, and lately every smile from Coulson has seemed a bit forced, a bit weak and sad. But these smiles were just pure joy and happiness. She stared at the photo for a while, pulling her eyes away when Coulson called for her. 

"Skye, you coming?" 

She carefully put the picture back where she found it, face down like it was before. Then, she ran for the door, closing it behind her. 

"Coming!" She yelled back. 

As she walked alongside Coulson, she compared this face with the one from the photo. 

 _Where did all that happiness go?_ She thought. 

_What happened to make them lock away those parts of themselves?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that was okay! There was definitely a lot of Philinda in this, and a bit of Fitzsimmons. There will be a lot more May next chapter, I swear. I just wanted to get through the team's feelings and how they're coping before I get to how May's doing during all of this.   
> I also don't really like that ending, but I couldn't think of a better one.


End file.
